


20 Candles

by panther



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 07:26:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2016234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panther/pseuds/panther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry wakes on his birthday to burning candles. He has to think about what family and friends really mean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	20 Candles

Harry awakes to the smell of burning. It makes him sniff, screw up his nose, and turn into his pillow with a groan. He doesn't quite realise he is awake. Slowly the smell irritates his nostrils so he turns over and flaps his hands into the duvet. Last night was a long shift and a stressful one to boot. A madman is on the loose so of course the papers worry about a new Dark Lord, a serial killer, a monster. Even the Quibbler talks of a brutal murderer. The victims are Magical but the method is Muggle. Wizards use large knives just as Muggles do but speculation runs riot. Purebloods, Half-Bloods and Muggleborns fall victim and the Ministry have no clues. Harry doesn't want to wake up. Sure, he is off work for his birthday but there are the papers, the people, and the TV Harry can't bring himself to turn off because it is part of his upbringing. Too many people have left the Wizarding World to appear on Muggle news. 

Harry hears pots banging, what might be swearing, and then the snap of a house elf doing what they need to. He turns over and dives under the sheets but Draco's owl just sits on his head upon arrival and demands notice. The claws dig into his skull and while it isn't painful it is annoying so Harry surfaces with a scowl. The truffles from Narcissa Malfoy are unexpected but not as much as the cake from Molly Weasley who hasn't contacted Harry for months. Nothing comes from Ron nor Hermione but Harry shrugs it off. If they are so petty then so be it, in his eyes. Draco tried to kill Dumbledore yes but he also threw Harry the wand that let him end Voldemort. He also apologised for his actions as a child, more than many others than say, and certainly more than Severus Snape could ever claim despite Harry getting his bully recognised in the press. 

It bugs him for a minute but then he gets up. The wards keep out strangers and Harry gave up on most people he knew years ago. Molly still sends her gifts now and then but the truffles mean more. Narcissa doesn't enter the kitchens unless to make an effort. Still, the cake means a lot. It is a small sign of acceptance and it matters. Until now Harry has faced more acceptance from the people he tried to kill than the people who claimed to raise him. Daphne brings him new shoes and hats while her sister offers him sweets. A wary Cho Chang brings him new gloves to wear as he flies and Neville defiantly turns up with a set of teas, not for Harry to predict but, to help Harry relax when needed. Draco hovers when it comes to Neville and comes closer when it is Daphne. 

Harry himself mingles as if his friends didn't leave him over the person he loves and he beams when Neville appears from the shadows to shake Draco's hand and talk to Harry in front of him. Harry has not had a proper birthday before and certainly not one where a Dark Lord was not lurking. Narcissa has organised the buffet and a house-bound by law Lucius has paid for it but Harry doesn't mind. Narcissa welcomed him and Lucius has apologised while freely handing over his wand to the Ministry. They talk to Harry and teach him of the world. Ron has rejected him and spoken badly of him in the press. Hermione just pretends he doesn't exist. Neville gives a chance. He meets Narcissa and sees the garden and forms a bond. Harry thinks it might just save his adopted mother. Draco tells him he can visit when he likes in his sharp way that doesn't care but that is still genuine. He, personally doesn't want to see Neville again but he won't make Harry a prisoner in his own home and that matters given what the Boy Who Won suffered. 

Ginny Weasley gets to the World Cup as Seeker for England and invites Harry and Draco to her private box. She realises the positions they were in and how teenage emotions fade. She shakes Draco's hand with a smile and a warm hug and the press take notice. As Harry does she realises the world won't heal if they don't see those they know as heroes move on and those they saw as villaisn too. The world will always watch Draco Malfoy but he is ready for it. Draco threatened and he bullied but he didn't kill and that is what matters to Ginny while the Wizarding World watches and her broom hovers over his stand. Harry hovers in the background but that is enough.

They could leave it as a press incident but they don't. Hogwarts reminds everyone, how the England chaser shook hands with a Slytherin who had nothing to gain. Draco had bought a normal ticket. It was not a first class ticket with champagne, nor a ticket that let him meet the players. Still, Ginny Weasley flew over and shook his, and Harry's, hand but for once the press has another focus. Rumours spread across Hogwarts but press reports of Harry and Draco shopping for food and a garden table set for outdoors crush the rumours of an affair. Molly Weasley doesn't sent a howler or a letter. No, she appears in the fireplace and speaks nicely to Draco before requesting to speak to Harry. Kreature scowls and lingers in the background, with his rag and polish in his hands, as he stares at the fire place. Harry accepts an invitation for dinner and Draco scowls for the entire week.


End file.
